THE PALMETTO HERALD, Port Royal, South Carolina, Dec. 8, 1864  

* Very rare Yankee occupation publication

This rare newspaper from Union-occupied Port Royal existed from just March 3 thru December 29, 1864. This newspaper would cease to exist 3 issues after this one was published. This may be the first of this title we have offered in our 50+ years.
We defer to the wonderful research presented by the Library of Congress for the following on this interesting title:
"Had the weekly Port Royal Palmetto Herald, a Republican newspaper, been published anywhere else in South Carolina besides Beaufort County during the Civil War, it would have been an oddity. As it happened, however, the Palmetto Herald was the third occupation newspaper published in South Carolina. Beaufort came under the control of the Union Navy early in the Civil War, and occupation newspapers quickly sprang up to serve the Northern missionaries and soldiers stationed in the area. The Port Royal New South appeared first, in March 1862; the Beaufort Free South followed in January 1863.
On March 3, 1864, Samuel W. Mason, a former correspondent for the Boston Herald, established the Palmetto Herald. Mason described the Herald simply as "a journal of notable events in the [United States Army] Department of the South" and acknowledged that soldiers and their families were its primary audience.
Mason's involvement, however, proved short-lived; on October 13th, he announced he was selling his share in the business to Otis T. Simonds, Clifford Saville, and Orlando Leach. In December, Mason informed his readers that he would be moving his operations to Savannah, Georgia. There, he combined the Palmetto Herald with the Savannah Daily Morning News and launched the Savannah Daily Herald. The last issue of the Palmetto Herald appeared on December 29, 1864."
Much of the front page has: "Casualties in the Battle of Honey Hill, Nov. 30". Inside includes: "The Active Operations" "Casualties At Honey Hill" "New Movements by Gen. Potter" "Severe Fighting--The Enemy Beaten..." "Great Federal Victory at Franklin, Tenn." "Gen. Hood Defeated with a loss of 6000 Men & 30 Stands of Color" "Sherman" "News From Rebel Sources".
Four pages, 10 by 14 inches, some dirtiness & foxing to the front page, never bound nor trimmed, a few non-archival tape mends near margins, minor rubbing at the folds.

Background: This December 8, 1864 issue of the Palmetto Herald serves as a rare, highly significant artifact of the Union occupation of South Carolina, capturing the overlapping momentum of the Civil War’s final winter through a distinct Northern lens. Published from the Union stronghold at Port Royal—a focal point for wartime emancipation and social experimentation—this specific edition provides vital, real-time documentation of the Battle of Honey Hill (November 30, 1864), a costly Union defeat near the Charleston and Savannah Railroad that featured prominent United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiments like the 54th Massachusetts. By printing extensive frontline casualty lists alongside news of General William T. Sherman's impending arrival in Savannah and the devastating Confederate defeat at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, the four-page publication acts as a critical historical ledger where local, tactical maneuvers and massive, theater-shifting Union victories converge. Ultimately, its immense historical value is compounded by its extreme rarity; printed just three weeks before its founder packed up the presses to follow Sherman into Georgia and shutter the title forever, this issue stands as a fleeting, museum-quality window into the collapse of the Confederacy and the immediate rise of early Reconstruction print culture.